Media Scrambles as Bin Laden Story Crumbles

by Alex NewmanWhile the establishment media was busy parroting President Obama’s announcement of Osama bin Laden’s supposed assassination, reporting the unsubstantiated claims as if they were unquestionable facts, much of the so-called “alternative” press was far more cautious — and accurate, it turns out. But more importantly, with the new official storyline indicating that bin Laden was in fact unarmed, bigger and much more important questions are beginning to emerge.

In terms of coverage, it turns out that the skeptical approach proved far superior in terms of getting it right. Countless mainstream sources were so confident in Obama’s word that they reported many of the claims as fact without even attributing them to the President.

But the official White House narrative has been changed so many times in recent days that now it’s almost unrecognizable. There wasn‘t even a fire fight; yet this was one of the crucial elements of the original story that justified the assassination of a person the government painted as the most valuable source of information on the planet — the leader of al-Qaeda. And in reporting the statements as fact, the establishment press has officially been left with egg all over its face again.

In several of the latest emails to emerge from Wikileaks' Global Intelligence Files release, Stratfor CEO George Friedman and Vice President of Intelligence Fred Burton speculate on the fate of Osama bin Laden's corpse, with Burton suggesting that a sea burial wasn't likely ["I don't see the FBI nor DOJ letting that happen"] and then later confidently stating that the body was being transferred to Dover, Delaware and then on to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Bethesda, Maryland

In one email, sent by Stratfor’s vice-president for intelligence Fred Burton – and timestamped just hours after Barack Obama announced details of the Pakistani raid that killed bin Laden – Burton declares:

Reportedly, we took the body with us. Thank goodness.
Another, 25 minutes later – with the subject ‘Body bound for Dover, DE on CIA plane’ adds: “Than [sic] onward to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Bethesda”.

‘Dover, DE’ refers to Dover in Delaware, the site of a major air force base around 175km from Washington.

REPORTING FROM ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN -- The whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has published an international affairs think tank email that alleges mid-ranking Pakistani intelligence and military officials were aware of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan -- a charge that officials in Islamabad have consistently denied.

The email was one of many that the private think tank Stratfor says were stolen from its computer files by hackers in December. Wikileaks posted some of the emails on its website this week. The authenticity of the material published is unverified, and Stratfor issued a statement warning that some of the emails “may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies.”

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